Week 4 -9/29/15- Farming 2.0: Vertical and Efficient
Ayo Foodies!
How has everyone’s week been? Hoo-Ray on the 5:0 win of the Bears and a cheerful homecoming/parents weekend!
Last week we met the founder and owner, David Caeser of the Green Skies Vertical Farm in West Oakland. It is really tiny-- 1/11 of an acre (450 acres=average US farm size) transformed from a vacant lot. His concept of maximizing urban land utilization and minimizing waste makes GSV an innovative and sustainable business. We also met his adorable children, Lol-be and Yoshua, who have wonderful memories growing up with the farm, like climbing on the farm’s strawberry stalk!
Speech Recap
ABOUT GREEN SKIES
They grow microgreens! We got to sample some micro-daikon sprouts, which had a kick!
Daikon, micro-broccoli
Wheatgrass
Herbs: peppermint, spearmint, chives
Salad, lettuce greens
For-profit model, currently selling through Farmigo and Good Eggs, “Online Farmers’ Market”
Why GSV?
The business model of traditional organic farms is inefficient and produces tons of greenhouse gases, especially from transportation.
GSV is hyper-local and organic. His produce decreases carbon footprint and water usage with a hydroponic system that uses rainwater and recycles water drainage.
Non-invasive modular system, that can be taken down and rebuilt
rain gutters and scaffolding, used layers, all built off the ground
GENERAL AGRICULTURAL TRENDS
Facts and Stats on California’s important role in US/Global agricultural production for its climate and soil
But drought!! Land insecurity prompts farmers to look for farmlands in other states
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is the production of plants and their products, such as vegetables and flowers, inside structures such as greenhouses. Some advantages:
Freshness and transportation saving
increased production/space efficiency
land reclamation
and negatives
Energy Equation
Diseases - environments ideal for both crops and pests
Nutritional value
Types of crops that can be grown on a multi-level system
The blog and photos are updated weekly, check them out! http://calfoodsystem.wix.com/decal
Please email us back with any topics/issues/people you would like to discuss in class or just share with everyone!
Upcoming Week’s Speaker!
This week we are so excited to bring in Imperfect Produce to talk about food waste and food distribution! "For us, this is a story about finding creative ways to reduce food waste. Imperfect is the latest venture launched by Ben Simon and Ben Chesler. We’ve been passionate about food waste for a long time, always with the same goal in mind: Keep food from being wasted, and provide it to people instead. It all started when we launched the Food Recovery Network in 2011 to recover leftover food from campus dining halls. After 700,000 pounds of food recovered and 150 college campuses, we began looking for ways to have an even bigger impact. And we found it – on farms, where 20% of the produce grown never makes it to a human mouth, in large part because it is simply the wrong shape, size, or color. We realized that across the country, ugly produce (or as we like to say, “cosmetically-challenged produce”) is being treated like a second-class citizen. Every year six billion pounds of fruits and vegetables go to waste on farms across the U.S. just for looking a little different from other produce. Instead of going to feed people, all that wasted produce is sitting in landfills, where it releases methane gas into the atmosphere. So we came up with the idea to reduce this food waste while making produce more affordable for all families. We’ve teamed up on this project with Ron Clark, who has worked for the California Association of Food Banks for the last 15 years sourcing ugly produce to keep it from going to waste. Imperfect gives consumers the chance to buy delicious, wonky-looking produce at a discount. So instead of going to waste, all those odd-looking fruits and vegetables will be helping Americans eat healthier, at a price they can afford."
Can’t wait to see you again next Tuesday!!
*As always, remember to bring in a piece of food news to get some delicious CHOCOLATE!
Study hard and eat & sleep well!
Best,
Hailey
Agnes, Cindy and Vicky
Environmental, Nutritional & Social Aspects Influencing Our Food System DeCal, UC Berkeley
Fall 2015
Tuesdays, 7-8 pm
Location Dwinelle 283
